23 Dec 2020 in 7:30 S&P Global Platts
The almost-complete 55 Bcm/year pipeline remains a major bone of political contention between Russia, Europe and the US, with the threat of sanctions from Washington testing trans-Atlantic ties. And a political end-game still looks some way off. But beyond the politics, the continued uncertainty about when the pipeline will be completed remains a key factor for the European gas market to consider heading into 2021.
Although Nord Stream 2 did lay a small 2.6 km stretch in German waters in December, question marks remain over how and when the longer section in the waters to the south of the Danish island of Bornholm will be installed, S&P Global Platts writes in the article
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As we move into 2021, Southeast Europe’s concern about security and diversity of energy supply and over-reliance on Russia gas is now history, a senior energy expert has said, noting that after many years of inaction a number of new projects are coming on-stream bringing plenty of gas in the region.
“We move from a period of Russian gas flowing to the region and being distributed in the region to things happening,”
Julian Bowden, senior visiting research fellow at Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES) in London, said during an online IENE conference moderated by New Europe on December 10.
“The region’s concern about security and diversity of supply is now history. That discussion now, that problem has come to an end. There is plenty of other gas available and it can reach the market and we’ve seen it in 2019-2020 and we’ll see it even more next year. There’s plenty of supply,” Bowden said.